Flexible supporting means suitable for use in suspension transporter arrangements and for other purposes



July: .31, ms-

A. G. M. JACK 1919 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 FLEXIBLE SUPPORTING MEANS SUITABLEFOR USE IN SUSPENSION TRANSPORTER ARRANGEMENT-S AND FOR OTHER PURPOSESOriginal Filed Dec.

July 31, 1923- A. G. M. JACK Y FLEXIBLE SUPPORTING MEANS SUITABLE FORUSE IN SUSPENSION TRANSPORTER ARRANGEMENTS AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES .1

Original Filed Dec. 8, 1919 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 July. 31,1923- M. .JACKFLEXIBLE SUPPORTING MEANS SUITABLE FOR USE IN SUSPENSION TRANSPORTER 81919 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 ARRANGEMENTS AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES Original FiledDec.

To all whom it-may concern:

Patented July 31, 1923.

UNITED ST T QF'Flf l I ALEXANDER, GEORG MAGKE Z'I JACK; or srirE'FrrELnIisNGri-hiw). 7'

' ARRANGEMENTS J nn FLEXIBLE SUPPORTING MEANS mums For, USE IN,susrnivsroiv roe o'rHER runrosns.

grammes Original application filed December aieiafsriarnouns real EatentNo.rtize'ra-datea nay 23,

- 1922. Divided and this application filed May 1, 1922.Serial"1105557390;- c :--:y

-Bejit known that I, ALEXANDER Gnome MACKENZIE JAGK,: a subject of theKing of Great'Britain and Ireland, residing-at Brinclifl'e, Sheffield,in the county of York, England, have invented Improvements inor-Relating to Flexible Supportin'g.SMeans Suitable for Use inSuspensionTransporter Arrangements and for Other Purposes, of which thefollowing is a'specification.

In the specification of another application for Letters Patent-SerialNo.=34l34:39 filed comprising December 8th, 1919, now Patent 1,417,070,

' issued May 23, 1922, and of which the present application is adivision, I have described an invention relating to a suspensiontransporter arrangement wherein'a platform 7 'or equivalent device(hereinafter called a platform) issupportedfrom a flexible over- 20'through supporting and traversing means controller provided with headsuspension member or members,

a mechanism adapted to gear with and be operated by the suspensionmember or mem- 'bers when the controller 1s moved from one end thereofto the other,and compensating lowering and raising mechanism under thecontrol of the controller mechanism' and, from which the platformissuspended, the construction and arrangement of" the controller beingsuch that although it will,. during its travel alongthesuspension-member :or'members rise and fall to an extent deport for theplatform or equivalent will remain constant, or nearly constant, so that:the platform. will travel in a nearly hori-. zontal or slightly wavedpath.

- To enable this result to be attained the point. or each point ofconnection of the sup porting chain or each supporting chain, car- Tyingthe platform, to the lowering and raish ism'operated by. the controller,is

so arranged and operated that-it will raise the platform when thecontroller is descend mg one portionof the flexible suspension f meansand willilowerthe platform when the controller is ascending the othercurvedpo'rtion of the: said flexible suspension means, with the resultthat, in relation to a horizonm1 plane, the said point of connectionwill remain nearly level and at the same height during the .whole"theiftraveller,

along the catenary-curve: The flexible suspension means may be provided'with'two controllers," eachhaving a point of suspension for asupporting chain as desorib'edJ'Also; in some cases the: overhead flexble suspension: means may comprise two ;or :mOre

each. provided Letters l?atent, relates more particularlyito 5 theflexible supporting means used, in-suoh suspension: transporterarrangements but";

which is also suitable for other uses Ewhere flexible supporting-means,;oonsisting of a flexible trackway, isdesired and where it isdeslred to provide flexible supporting means that-shall bexlighter inweight and more ef- ,.'-fective in action thanan ordinary-link chain. v

1 "Therefore, according to the present inven- 7 tion, in order that toprovide flexible suspen sion'means suitable for the purpose set forthbut of less welgh't than a hnk chain or chains so as to admit ofsuspension transporterar-- ;rangements of the kind'referred to, 'or ofother kinds, being more readily and econom- Iically constructed andworked; of greatei length or span, say of the-order of magnitude ofonethousandfeet and upwards-than can; beodonegwhen one 'oroqmore linkchains :are'

used,=the flexible suspension :imeans usedl advantageouslycomprise;0ne'lor1more lengths of flexible'metal provided.Withprojections or teeth adapted to engage withjfand operate ;for'-instance gear wheels on the 0, 1

troller of a a suspension transporter arrange 1 ment of the kindreferredto or of other kind,

.when: the controller is moved fromojne end,

of, the; said flexible suspension means to the,

other end thereof; Such flexible suspension L meanscan be variouslyconstructed. =Thus,

it may advantageously comprise I one or more strong steel ropes' orcables (hereinafter called ropes) of circularor substantially circularsection, provided along its length with teeth adapted to; gear with theteeth of the gear wheels on the controller or other device and rotatesuch wheels whenthe' controller or other device is traversed over them,'Con'v'e'niently,f the teeth may be formed in oneonmoreglongitudinalsets on a 4. 65 vislongof.my said former application for large number ofmetal sleeves arranged end to end," and adapted to be suitably fixed tothe wire rope or ropes.

With a view to preventing relatively end-7 In flexible suspension meansconstructed i a s just described, it will be understood that as the wirerope or ropes is or are covered by the sleeves, it .or they will not besub-- -jected to friction with the controller and will therefore have along life. Also, as the rope or ropes will become coated with oily orgreasy matter from the controller, itjor they will not be'subject tooxidation. Also,

the sleeves-can, when necessary, be easily renewed.

Or, 1nl1eu of using one or more wire ropes of round or substantiallyround shape in section, as the flexible suspension means tor-carryingthe rack or racks, a length of flat wire rope may be used for carryingthe rack or racks.

In order that the construction and application of'fiexible supportingmeans according to the present invention may be readily understood, itwill now be further descr'ibed in connection with a suspension i theline L-il of on the line II.II of Fig. 1 and Fig. 3 is transporterarrangement of the kind described inmy said former application for*Letters'Patent and with the aid of the accompanying illustrativedrawings.

In these clraw1II1gs,F1g. '1 1s a section on 1g. 2, Fig. 2 1s a sectiona plan, showing a controller with compensating lowering and rais ngmechanism of the kind described and shown in my said i "formerspecification embodying fiexiblesupporting means comprising two wireropes -with sleeves and asingle longitudinal set of teeth forming asingle flexible rack.

Figs. 4 and 5 showthe two ropes and associated parts of the fiexiblesupporting "means in cross section. and longitudinal sectionrespectively and to a larger scale thanv Figs.-1,-'2 and? Fi 6 is across section-on the line VI- VI of Fig. .7 and Fig. 7 is across-section on the line VII -V-II of Fig. 6,

showing a modified arrangement in wh-ich the flexible supporting meanscomprlses a wire rope with sleeves and two'longitudin a'l se't's' ofteethfforming 'two fiexible racks. F ig.'8 shows inside view, amodification of the arrangement shown in Figs. 6 and 7. Figs. 9 and 10show in cross section modified constructions of flexible means. Figs.'11 and "12' show in cross section and sectional side elevation,- afurther modified construction of such "supporting means.

A referred to having Figs. 1 to 5 inclusive, showa suspensiontransporter arrangement of the kind herein flexible supporting meanscomprising two wire ropes 5 5, arranged side by side. In this example,double. sleeves 12, 12 are adapted to be fixedto the two ropes and carrybetween them a row of teeth 18 each double sleeve with intermediateteeth beingformed out of a piece of sheet metal which is pressed orstamped between dies to form the row of teeth 13 and curved sideportions to form the sleeves 12, 12 which, afterbeing placed on theropes, are bent around the same so as to become tightly clamped thereto(see Fig. 4). To facilitate the bending of the edge portions of thepiece of metal around the ropes, such edge portions are slotted to formfingers 12 that can be readily bent to the shape shown. In this caseeach of the shafts h of the controller-has fixed to it a toothed wheelis to gear with the row of teeth 13 carried by the successive doublesleeves .12, 12 and is provided with two grooved supporting wheels 9,. 9arranged to run on the convex upper portions of the successive doublesleeves 12, 12 The vertical. adjustable intermediate shaft t ofthe'controller (Figs. 2 and 3) is also provided with a pair of similargrooved wheels 13 arranged to run upon and bear against the successivedouble sleeves 12,12 so as to assistin relieving the toothed wheels 70of the weight or" the controller and its load.

Figs..,6 and 7 showv a modified arrangement wherein the flexiblesupporting means, instead of consisting of two sleeve connected ropes ashereinbefore described with reference to Figs. 1 to 5 inclusive,comprises a single steel Wire rope '5 of circular section provided alongits length with a number or" metal sleeves, arranged end to end andadapted tobe securely fixed to the rope, the sleeves being providedalong their length with teeth adapted to gear with the teeth of. gearwheels on the controller. In the example shown, each sleeve is dividedhorizontally *into two parts 6 and 7 formed of-sheet metal. The upperpart '6 is bent or shaped, as between dies,

to form a central concave portion fitting over the rope and two sideportions, each of :which is shaped to form'a row of teeth 8 or'8.' Thecentral portion-of the lower part 7 of each sleeve is alsobent orshaped, as shown, to form a-central portion fitting the underside of therope, and .two side portions that'are slotted to form rows of fingers 7that-are bent over the side portions of the upper part ofthe sleeve. andfitinto therecesses'between the teeth .8, 8'

so as tightlyto'clamp-the said side portions ofthe upper part ofthesleeve to the lower part thereof at these-points, and both parts to therope.

a cent lower portions?- of the sleeves may co- In thisjcase each shaft hof a controller such as shown in Figs. 1,2 and 3, will have fixed to ittwo toothed wheels 7070 (see Fig. 6) to gear with-the two rows of teeth8, 8

and will also carry an intermediate grooved wheel 9 arranged to runonthe central convex-upper surface of the upper parts 6 of the sleeves6'Z so as to relieve the toothed wheels la, 70 of'the weight of thecontroller and its load. The joints 10 between adjaincide with thejoints 11 between the adj acent upper portion 6 of thesleeves,'as shownin Fig. 7-; or staggered. 5 The joints portions ,6 of divided sleevessuch as herethe twosets of joints may be inbefore described, may bearranged-to be. slightly open so as to permit the sleeves 'to' bolts 7"and nuts 7.

' thatthey will gear in an eificientu manner" To facilitate quick andaccurate assembly of the sleeves on the rope or ropes with the teethinj-the longitudinal set thereof, oreach longitudinal set thereof, inarow or rows, so

with the gear'wheel is or gear wheels is, kl,

of the controller,"their adjacent ends may,

as showngfor example in Fig. 3, be-provided with 1 1 correspondinginterengaging projections 1a and recesses 15 that ensure their beingplaced in the correct relative positions around theropei Theinter-engaging projections Hand recesses 15jalso serve to keepthe'severalsleeves' in"- line and to preserve, as far as possible, anunbroken wheelv track, that is to say, a track in which there is not astraight transverse line of division between the upper portions ofadjacent sleeves. The sleeves are held firmly against each other bylarger and stronger sleeves l6 (see Fig. 3) that are rigidly andaccurately fixed to the end portions ofthe wire rope or ropes near tothe points of suspension of the rope or ropes from the supportingstandards therefor at the opposite sides of a river,

valley or the like; so that they will eifectually resist any tendency ofthesmaller sleevesto move endways, on the rope orropes under the actionof the controller geared thereto. One of the larger sleeves may be madeendwavs adjustable to compensate for 1 any wear of the smaller sleevesthat may take place at the joints between them;

In order that the rack teeth shallj gear.

in an efficient manner with the toothed wheels on the controller, theymay advan-= madein two parts clamped together at th e tageously'be soformed and arranged, as

between the adjacent: upper not move apart endways. r

shown in igs. 4:, 5,6 and '7, that the pitch line of-each set thereofcorresponds inf-position, as seen In side V16W,' W]ilh the longitudinalaxisof the wire ropes 5, 5, or the wire rope 5,'so that therelativeposition of the teeth will not materially be affected when inposition foruse.

=When three ropes'are used, as-i-n the-example shown in Fig. 9,; one,namely, 5,"inay be arranged centrally above the other two 5, 5 andeach'sleeve may be composed'of an "upper portion 6 adapted to extend over theupper-rope and down over the sidesf'of the two lower ropes, and a lowerportion? adapted to fit the underside ofthe two lowerropes and'to beconnected to the upper portion of the sleeve in either of the wayshereinbefore described. The upper portion "of thesleeve may be provided,at opposite sides thereof, with rows of teeth 8', '8 and with anintermediate flat or convex track' portion 8 the-pitch linesoftheteethb'eing'well below-thetop of the compositerope. In the;

case of four ropes, they maybe arranged in; two superposed pairs, asshown in Fig-10 with the sleeve '6 7 adapted to surround them andprovided with 7 two T wg' of: teeth Figs. "1 1 and 12show aflexiblemember 1 comprising a flat" wire;- rope 18 formedbyseveral ropesarranged; side by side,- and =sheetfmetal sleeves 6"7' having racks 8,Sf andan intermediate bearing sur a fa constructed anda-pplied asherein'bef'o 160 described with reference/ to F igs 6 and '71" Flexiblesupporting means constructed as hereinbefore described so asftoconstitute what,ffor brevity, is referred' toin the claims as a flexibletrackway, although specially" advantageous for suspension transporter arra'ngements of long-span, can of course'ad vantageously be 'used ,forrelatively shortspans. Also, they are applicable foruse in s any-casewhere a flexible gear chain or rack,

of less weight than a. linkchain is for driving or other purposes; 1

What I claim is required 1. A flexible trackway comprising a -plu ralityofshort metal sections flexibly connected endwaysjand'provided withteeth to form a rack, the sections being interlocked they caninalongitu'dinal direction so that 2. A flexible'trackway comprising arope and a plurality of shortmetal sections form arack. 7 g

3. A flexible trackw'ay comprising a-plurality of short metal sectionsflexibly conmetal teeth to form a rack.

4. A flexible trackway comprl rope, aplurality of short metal sectionseach edges around such rope and one of said parts being provided with alongitudinal row of vertical teeth. 5. A flexible track-way comprising aplurality of upper and lower parts, the lower parts having projectionsor teeth and engaging the teeth on theupper parts, so that. the severalparts are interlocked with each in the longitudinal direction. a

6. A flexible trackway comprising a wire rope and a plurality of short"metal sections fixed thereto and provided on their upper tudinaldirection with the opposite part of the adjacent section. a

8. A flexible trackway comprising a wire rope and a plurality ofrelatively short racks fixed thereto, each section being made in twoparts, one part being formed with vertical teeth and the other parthaving its edge portions bentgover the edges of the first mentioned partand clamped thereto.

9. A flexible trackway comprising adjacent wire ropes, a plurality ofrelatively short metal sections fixed to said ropes and a plurality ofrelatively shor-twtoothed racks arranged longitudinally and carried bysaid metal sections 10.1 A flexible trackway comprising two adjacentwire ropes of circular section, a plurality of relatively short doublemetal sections fixed to said ropes and a plurality of relatively shorttoothed: racks carried by and between said metal sections, each doublesection and corresponding toothed rack being formed out of one piece ofmetal,

11. A flexible trackwaycomprisingiae wire rope and plurality ofrelatively short metal sections fixed theretoand formed with a centrallyarranged longitudinal row of rack teeth and at opposite sides of saidrow of teeth with plain longitudinalsurfaces.

121 A flexible trackway comprising aplurality of short metal sectionsprovidedwith teeth to form a longitudinal rack, a wire rope to whichsaid metal sections are fixed and metal end sections rigidly fixed tosaid rope and adapted to prevent longitudinal motion of said short metalsections on said r pe. a 1

13. A. flexible trackway comprising a wire rope and a plurality ofrelatively short metal sections fixed thereto. and formed with teetharranged to form a longitudinal rack said sections being provided attheir adjac nt ends with corresponding interengaging projections andrecesses adapted to keep the severalsections in alignment andto preservean unbrokenwheel track. V

1 1-. A suspension; transporter arrangement of the kindhereinreferred towherein; the flexible suspension means for carrying the travellingcontroller comprises a wire rope and a plurality of relatively shortmetal sections fixed thereto in alignment with one another and providedalong their length with teeth adapted to gear with toothed wheels on thecontroller, substantially as described. r V

Signed at Sheffield, England, this eighteenth day ofjApril' 1922. V

ALEXANDER- es'oa'cr' MACKENZIE more

